China only recently responded to EU on tariffs, ambassador says

China responded only recently to the European Union’s requests for talks in the bloc’s investigation into subsidies for electric vehicles despite its attempts to engage for months, the EU’s ambassador in Beijing said.

“We have offered consultations to the Chinese government on this case for months,” Jorge Toledo, the EU’s ambassador to China, said at a conference in Beijing Sunday. “It was only nine days ago” that European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis received a call from China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to start consultations.

“We sent a letter four months ago saying we want to talk about this and other things,” Toledo said. 

The diplomat’s comments shed light on the months-long timeline of the EU’s scrutiny into Chinese government subsidies that it deemed to be harmful to the bloc’s carmakers. The EU last week imposed provisional tariffs on Chinese EV imports, with a final decision due by November. 

The call from Wang only came after German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck pushed him to do so in a recent visit, according to Bruno Angelet, the Belgian Ambassador in Beijing, who was speaking at the same conference.

The Ministry of Commerce didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment outside of normal business hours. 

The Chinese government and the companies in the country now have opportunities to talk with the EU to perhaps find a solution that would address the subsidies without the need for tariffs. Talks with China are ongoing, Dombrovskis said in a Bloomberg Television interview. 

Angelet and Toledo noted that Beijing publicly criticized European actions while it remained silent or had muted reaction to other nations’ similar moves. The US has imposed additional 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs, while Turkey and Brazil have also issued levies against these imports from China, Toledo said.  

“We have reached a decision which is quite reasonable - low, countervailing tariffs related to the level of subsidies,” Toledo said. “It was very fact-based and objective, and we are the only ones who are criticized.”